Press Review [Archives:2001/07/Press Review]

Prepared by Mohammed Khidhr
Local authority elections and the referendum on the constitutional amendments are nowadays the hottest themes in Yemen’s political arena, therefore all Yemeni press focuses on these two live topics. This edition of press scanner is allocated to review various points of view on these crucially important issues as appeared in articles and commentaries published by some Yemeni newspapers. In addition there is a review of the main news stories in Yemeni press particularly on local issues.
Main Headlines:
-Socialists Demand Membership Cancellation of Party Leaders Abroad
-Journalists Syndicate Demands End to Implementing Primary Verdicts Against Newspapers
-Parliamentary Elections Follow Immediately the Local Councils’
-Local Councils Greatly Serve Labor Sector
-In a Scientific Study: 54% Yemenis Poor,20% Rich Control 49% of National Income
-USS Cole: Sa’afani Planned Attack, Khamiri one of Implementers
-Explosion in Dhalie Targeting Security Official
-A Final Court Sitting On Medical College Morgue Case
-Natural Gas Exportation Project Implementation Begins Before Second Half This Year
-Al-Jifri Analyzes RAY Stand, Discloses Negative & Positive Points in Constitutional Amendments
-RAY Weekly Website Comes Under Virus Kak Attack
-Flagrant Violations of Constitution, Law in Zidiya
-US-Russian Security Coordination in Yemen
-Observers: Opposition Faces Party Possessing Authority Capabilities
-Suspension of Shumou Newspaper, Denounced
-Parliamentarians: Sales Tax, a Blow to Economy
-An International Demand for Attacking Poverty in the World
-YSP Holds Elections Supreme Committee Responsible For Violations, Irresponsible Behavior
-Political Parties Trade Accusations Ahead of Elections
-Comprehensive Implementation of Privatization in Yemen
Review of articles, analyzes and commentaries published in this week’s Yemeni Press concentrating mainly on the coming local councils elections and referendum on constitutional amendments depicting various viewpoints on these two vitally important events.
On the coming local council elections and constitutional amendments due on February 20, lawyer Abdulsalam As-Samawi wrote an article in Al-Wahda weekly , February 7, 2001 saying that the referendum on constitutional amendments and the local councils elections were two historic events in our country in order to complete the building of the modern state and lay the pillars of political stability.
The author has further said that the two events come in response to urgent necessities dictated by variables at both local and international levels. They also form an important qualitative transfer in the process of political, economic and social national construction. The two events give opportunity for more democratic practice and stabilization of the people’s ruling of themselves, a principle that has been a dream of the people for many long years. The people will then take part in drawing up and taking political, economic and social decisions in various fields of development, curbing financial and administrative centralization.
The constitutional amendments and conflicting stands taken by various political organizations towards them has been the theme of the editorial of RAY weekly, organ of Sons of Yemen League party in its 6 February 2001 issue.
The RAY editorial says that though the issue is a nationwide one and an axis of its future, they have adopted extreme stands towards it. Some have taken extreme position in favor of the issue of constitutional amendments and others have taken an attitude completely rejecting them thinking that they would be a big blow to the democratic experiment.
Thus the space of extremism in the political address has widened and overshadowed the stands. Also the space available for reaching the essential truth has narrowed. The circle of self-seclusion has been completed when the authority has insisted on putting the people in a position of naive comparison between the utter rejection and total imposition.
The weekly editorial comes to a conclusion that the scientific reading of domestic issues and looking at them with objectivity, away from whims and narrow-scoped interests, is the sole outlet for all.
An-Nass weekly, February 5, 2001.
On the local council elections Mr Abdulfattah Al-Batoul wrote an article saying that despite the shortcomings associating with the local elections and referendum on the constitution, all political parties are going to take part in them. They believe in the importance of participation for bringing success and to stabilize the democratic process which needs decades before democracy becomes a right not a gift, as well as one of the constants.
The most dangerous problems accompanying the electoral process, having a destructive impact and adverse results are represented by the partiality of the elections supreme committee and the ruling party’s participation with all mechanism and capabilities of the government.
The importance of bringing the experiment to success and benefiting from it should be stressed. All must cooperate in this, especially the ruling party that bears the biggest share of responsibility. Participation of parties shows their desire for deepening the electoral experiment and consolidating the democratic process. The ball is in the ruling party’s court. It has to run elections as a party not a state, and an organization not a government.
Al-Ihya’a Al-Arabi weekly, organ of the Arab Baath Socialist Party 5 February 2001.
Abdulwali Ahmed Salam says in his article on the referendum and local councils elections due in Yemen February 20 that the two events have preoccupied the political parties and organizations but not the Yemeni street despite the huge propaganda accompanying them. He ascribes the ordinary Yemeni disinterest in them to (a): maybe the citizen has lost enthusiasm towards elections due to elections previous experiments, (b): each experiment has proved to be worse that the one before it, (c): the present local elections are meant for a transitional period arranged at haste and aimed at serving the constitutional amendments.   Al-Umma weekly, February 8, 2001.
Titled ” Local Elections, Reality & Hope”‘ Mohammed Ali Al-Saraji says in his article that heading for the experiment of the local authority within the criterion of adopting the system of eligibility would have positive results on activities of both implementation and observing of local authority work. Embodiment of the popular participation with the aim of taking part in development decision-making is an indicator of the soundness of effecting active elections. 
Election of the local councils is receiving state’s and the local society attention. And to be an end hoped for being achieved and easy to apply, commitment to texts of the local authority law must be a way for reducing the phenomenon of containment in the process of implementation and observation. What is of particular importance to draw the attention to is that the law has defined the nature of the local authority by two frameworks; one represents appointment and the other represents elections.   
As-Sahwa weekly, February 8, 2001.
Zahira Kamal has written a column in the weekly on the woman and elections. She says participation of woman in the elections acquires at this stage a special importance as long as we are preparing ourselves to receive a new historical stage trying to draw up its features together. Elections are not an end by themselves but rather a means for realizing goals. Therefore elections require participation of both male and female electors.
Out of human rights. woman participation in elections is a right first and is secondly a responsibility for achieving our goals for attaining a democratic society, a matter that requires securing popular participation in electing the central ruling authority.
Since the woman represents half of the society, her participation is a must in addition to achieving equality as one of the essential cornerstones of democracy.
Woman participation in the elections is one of the basic principles that must be realized through granting her the right to vote and nomination. Woman has also the right to win elections for the centre of decision-making if we actually wanted to achieve comprehensive development.

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